Sugarcane bagasse whiskers: Extraction and characterizations

This work evaluates the use of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as a source of cellulose to obtain whiskers. These fibers were extracted after SCB underwent alkaline peroxide pre-treatment followed by acid hydrolysis at 45 °C. The influence of extraction time (30 and 75 min) on the properties of the nanofibers was investigated. Sugarcane bagasse whiskers (SCBW) were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in air atmosphere. The results showed that SCB could be used as source to obtain cellulose whiskers and they had needle-like structures with an average length (L) of 255 ± 55 nm and diameter (D) of 4 ± 2 nm, giving an aspect ratio (L/D) around 64. More drastic hydrolysis conditions (75 min) resulted in less thermally stable whiskers and caused some damage on the crystal structure of the cellulose as observed by XRD analysis.